How many steps are you willing to take to make it to top? I am talking about to the top of the tallest brick lighthouse in North America. The Cape Hatteras Lighthouse in Buxton, NC. You can’t actually make it to the very top, because the last 20 steps are reserved for the coast guard only. You see the old, tall, twice moved tower is still in operation, guiding ships safely through the “Graveyard of the Atlantic.”

So when my family decided we were climbing this guy, I wasn’t too concerned about the 248 iron steps to the top or the 30 mph+ winds that couls rip you off the top. Okay maybe a little concerned, I mean our rental house in Duck has two sets of 14 stairs and the 56 stair round trip is pretty discouraging when all you want is a bottle of water or to find your little cousin. Either way I convinced myself that it was nothing. I have been running 2 miles every morning so take that lighthouse.

I also want to add another honorary 50 steps. Why? Cape Hatteras is a mere hour and a half drive from our quaint beach village and once we arrived another hour and 40 minutes to make the trek. You can occupy sometime in the giftshop or museum learning how they moved the striped giant to save it from being eaten by the ocean. So like I said 50 honorary steps.

The climb itself started off dark and humid. Every 31 steps you reach platform with a window and cool breeze. I quickly passed the first few, but by platform 4 my heart was racing and I thought it might never end. I am pretty sure we made it to the top in inder 15 minutes and the view was fantastic. We all felt as though we accomplished an amazing feat and to tell you the truth the climb was fairly easy. Less than 20 minutes later we were in the car searching for lunch.